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Summary: My favorite Austen novel.
Review: Persuasion is beautiful. It is also poignant, thought-provoking, heart-wrenching, satirical... I re-read it at least once a year, and am always amazed at how much Anne's story has come to mean to me. This book makes me laugh and it makes me cry. It combines all the elements that make an Austen novel an Austen novel. Sir Walter is a most hilarious buffoon, Mr. Elliot is as evil a villain as there can be, Mary is the quintessential spoiled, selfish baby sister, and Captain Wentworth (sigh) is her most dashing, romantic hero. Yes, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Darcy, but his love and devotion were not tested for "eight years and a half." IMNSHO, someone who is NOT moved by Captain Wentworth's letter has a heart of stone.
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Summary: "Persuasion" persuades
Review: I enjoy all of Jane Austen's novels but find this one to be my favorite. It is the most thoughtful and emotional and relies less on external events than the other novels. Anne Elliot is older than all of Jane Austen's other heroines. Her maturity shows in the way she handles her family's financial problems, her reunion with Wentworth, the events at Lyme, and the final happy moment when they reconcile. The ending was fulfilling and satisfying, and all that I could have hoped for, after, literally, reading Anne's thoughts.
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Summary: Difficult at first, but well worth it
Review: Persuasion, like other Jane Austen novels, contains characters who are class conscious to the point of being absolutely ridiculous. Anne is the most sensible one of the bunch. She decided that these class distinctions are less important than helping an old friend. Sir Walter Elliot and his oldest daughter, Elizabeth, are completely willing to associate with those of a higher class than themselves but will avoid people of a lower class. They avoid anything that would ruin their image. Mary, the other Elliot daughter, is just as selfish but in a slightly different way. Jane Austen's dialogue is difficult to follow at times, but worth the extra work it takes to understand the story.
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Summary: A boring and snobby book.
Review: I don't know what all of you are talking about. I found this book to be boring, bourgeois and completely unsympathetic. I can not imgaine anyone relating to any of these characters, unless you are extremely rich and live in 19th century England.It was, however, well written.
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Summary: Austen in her maturity.
Review: In Mrs. Croft's statement "we women don't want to be in calm waters all our lives" Jane Austen and her heroine, Anne Elliott, move beyond the domestic, from the bracing sea air of Lyme, to glimpses into the seafaring adventures of the Navy brethren. This to me is the predominate appeal of Persuasion - Anne, in her approaching maturity, is reunited with her former suitor in what we may expect is a deeper, more heartfelt love, having endured separation for so many years and she has the prospect of joining him at sea. My heart leaps to see her escaping domesticity and the dull social duties as exemplified by Sir Walter and her sister Elizabeth. Of course, Austen's use of language is perfect. My favourite Austen novel. The film adaptation with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds exquisitely captures the mood and characters of this book.
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Summary: Jane Austen's artistry is unsurpassed
Review: Every time I finish another Austen novel, it becomes my "favorite," and Persuasion is no different. Perceptive, emotional, profound and even painful at times, it still sparkles with Austen's humor and flair for turning a clever phrase. Anne Elliot is a heroine's heroine, and one with whom the reader feels an instant sympathy and affection. If only Jane Austen had been given more time on this earth to share her splendid and amazing gift--but in the little time she did have, she has given all of us who love her work a never ending source of pleasure and enjoyment. Persuasion in indeed a rare and priceless gem.
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Summary: 'Persuasion' is Jane Austen at her finest
Review: I've just finished reading 'Persuasion' and I loved it. At first glance Anne Elliot is somewhat of a doormat; then we learn that she is the only unselfish and rational member of her family, who has been putting their needs before hers for the last eight years and is finally sick of it. I was delighted at Jane's - whoops, I mean Anne's - rebellion against her position and her coming into her own as a woman deserving of love.
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Summary: Greatly Influenced My Emotional Life
Review: This book came into my life at a time I really needed it. Perhaps that makes me partial to it, but I found it compelling, compassionate, and greatly moving. Not a general reader of Austen, but compelled to pick it up after viewing the movie, I was impressed with it's insight and its emotional and social commentary. But more than social commentary it is, though to some it may sound trite, a book of the heart and soul. For me it was spiritually cleansing and emotionally purifying. A book of beauty and love, a work which has become a personal favorite.
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Summary: Good but it was missing something
Review: Yes, this is without a doubt one of her most mature works, but it was missing something. Pizazz, flavor, touching of icing, perhaps?
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Summary: Simply wonderful!
Review: I have to agree with the other reviewers of Jane Austen's Persuasion: this has to be one of her best works. The poignancy of the emotions throughout the novel were so present, so real. The writing drew me into the story, and I could hardly put the book down. Was the language too flowery? Not at all. It was beautiful. And I was quite sorry to see the words "The End." There is something to be said about a book that captures the imagination and piques the curiosity. This book is one of them.
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